Flying merchandise

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a flying object having a recess or orifice for removably securing an article of merchandise and to the combination of a flying object and an article of merchandise removably secured to the flying object.

PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 11/229,824, filedSep. 19, 2005, the prior application being incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Flying objects, such as discs, are well known. The Frisbee® brand flyingdisc from Wham-O, for example, has been commercially available fordecades. Flying discs are typically manufactured using plastic, foam orother rigid or semi-rigid materials and can be cylindrical in form orhave curved surfaces to enhance flight. Flying discs have been disclosedthat have various structures associated with the discs, such aspermanent inserts (U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,129 (Kerenbush et al.); Wham-O),laminate surfacing (U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,705 (Morrow); Kransco), ropematerial (U.S. Pat. No. 6,672,253 (Viola)); and balls bonded to the disc(Happy Dog Toys, LLC; product packaging citing U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,489(Heuttner et al.)).

Various industries choose to promote their products by supplying freesamples of the product or by providing merchandise that has anassociation with the particular product or industry. The recordingindustry, for example, may give away compact discs, electronicallystored music (i.e. MP3 media), concert tickets or clothing to promote aband, concert or new release. Sports teams, for example, give awaycollectible cards, key chains, clothing or game tickets. The beverageindustry is also well known for advertising; free or discounted productis typically offered to start the launch of a new brand or to increaseinterest in an existing brand. These and other industries have alsorecently moved towards providing consumers with gift cards that containelectronic information relating to monetary credit or other units ofvalue. Examples include phone cards, restaurant cards, cards bearingcredits for coffee (such as for Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts), and cardsfor credit at particular retail stores or groupings of stores (i.e.malls). Persons interested in these and other products and services aretypically the focus of marketing efforts of retailers, manufacturers andservice providers.

There exists a continuous need for new and innovative methods anddevices for marketing and promoting products and services.

SUMMARY

The present invention relates to the combination of a flying object andan article of merchandise removably secured to the flying object. Thearticle of merchandise is preferably associated with the flying objectsuch that it does not significantly interfere with the throwing, flyingor catching of the object. The article is also preferably removablysecured such that it does not become detached during normal throwing,flying or catching of the object yet is removable without excessiveforce from the object when the user desires to separate the two items.In a particular embodiment, the flying object is a disc. However, otherobjects, for example, balls, footballs and boomerangs can be used. Thepresent invention also relates to a flying object that has a recess ororifice configured and dimensioned to removably secure an article ofmerchandise.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded, perspective view of an information cardassociated with a flying disc;

FIG. 2 is an exploded, perspective view of a compact disc associatedwith a flying disc;

FIG. 3 is an exploded cross-sectional view of a disc having a recess,merchandise and cover member;

FIG. 4 is an alternate embodiment of a disc with a recess incross-section and associated merchandise and cover member;

FIG. 5A is a disc having a centrally located orifice and upper and lowerlips of material for removably securing an article of merchandise;

FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6A is a disc having a centrally located orifice and upper and lowercorner portions for removably securing an article of merchandise;

FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 7 is and exploded perspective view of a disc having a centrallylocated orifice with upper and lower corner portions for removablysecuring a first article of merchandise and a groove portion forremovably securing a second article of merchandise; and

FIG. 8 is a spherical flying object having an orifice for removablysecuring an article of merchandise.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to FIG. 1, flying object 10 is a disc that has a convexupper surface 12, a concave lower surface 14 (not shown) and a generallycircular rim 16 around the circumference. The flying disc can also be acylinder (i.e., no curved surfaces) or other shape wherein the center ofgravity is preferably located in the center of the object. Typicalflying discs range from about three inches in diameter to about 20inches in diameter. Disc 10 can be manufactured from solid plastic or offoamed synthetic materials, such as foamed polyurethane. Flying discscan be made by known techniques, such as, for example, by blow molding,injection molding, vacuum molding or stamping.

Also shown in FIG. 1 is article of merchandise 20 which is exemplifiedas a gift card. The term “article of merchandise” means anything ofvalue that can be removably secured to a flying object (with or withoutpackaging, i.e. a protective case or wrapper), so long as the articledoes not significantly disturb the ability of the object to be thrownand caught. An article of merchandise can include, for example: acompact disc bearing electronic media (e.g. music and/or video media);electronically stored music (i.e. MP3 media); event tickets; coupons;key chains; novelty items; collectible cards; or cards havinginformation (e.g. magnetic or bar-code) that relates to value, i.e. aquantity of money or other units that the card is good for. Informationcards can include, for example: phone cards; restaurant cards; cardsbearing credits for beverages such as coffee (such as from Starbucks orDunkin' Donuts), soda (such as from Coke or Pepsi) or beer (such as fromBudweiser, Miller or Coors); and cards for credit at particular retailstores (such as from The Gap; Foot locker; The Discovery Store; Macy's)or groupings of stores (e.g. malls).

If the flying object is to be used to transport an article ofmerchandise to a random user in a crowd of people (such as a bandthrowing a CD (or other article containing musical information) or otherarticle of merchandise item to a listening audience), the object, suchas a flying disc, is preferably made of a relatively soft material toreduce the likelihood of injury to an unaware fan.

The manner or means for removably securing the article of merchandise tothe flying object can take many forms such as, for example: single ordouble sided tape; Velcro® fastener material; rigid or semi-rigidplastic that releasably engages the article of merchandise (e.g.flexible fingers that engage the center opening of a compact disc orrigid anchors attached to the object that releasably receive at least aportion of the article of merchandise); glue; and sticky gum-likematerial (such as a viscoelastic polymer). Alternately, or in additionto the aforementioned materials, the object can have one or morerecesses or orifices strategically placed to at least partially receiveat least a portion of the article of merchandise or packaging containingthe article of merchandise. Such pre-formed recesses or orifices canoptionally be dimensioned slightly smaller than the article so as tofrictionally hold the article in place. Perimeter portions of the recessor orifice can further include a continuous or intermittent lip ofmaterial that covers a portion of the article of merchandise to furtheraid in holding the merchandise in place until the user desires toseparate the two items. One or more articles of merchandise can beassociated with a single flying object as can one or more recesses ororifices be disposed in a single flying object. Preferably, the articleis removable secured to the flying object so as not to significantlydisturb the object's center of gravity.

The term “removably secured” means that the article of merchandisegenerally does not become detached during normal throwing, flying orcatching of the object yet is removable without excessive force from theobject when the user desires to separate the two items. “Excessiveforce” is an amount of force that would damage the article ofmerchandise or an amount of force greater than that which an adult humancan apply.

Turning to the remaining Figures, FIG. 2 shows flying disc 10 withcompact disc 22 removable secured to lower surface 14. Compact disc 22can be removably secured as discussed, above. Alternately, compact disc22 can be disposed within a jewel box (i.e. a rectangular or circular CDcontainer) wherein the container is removably secured to either uppersurface 12 or lower surface 14 of flying disc 10.

FIG. 3 shows flying disc 100 having pre-formed recess 102 configured anddimensioned to receive article of merchandise 120 and optional covermember 108. The lower portion of flying disc 100 has step 104 thatgenerally corresponds to recess 102, thereby providing a continuous webof material across the flying disc. Alternatively, recess 102 can beformed on the lower surface of disc 100 with step 104 being on the upperportion of the disc. Cover member 108 is optional and serves to cover orotherwise protect and/or removably retain article of merchandise 106 onflying disc 100. Cover member 108 is preferably dimensioned to befrictionally associated with recess 102 and has top portion 110 andlegs/rim portion 112. Cover member 108 can be fabricated from clearmaterial to allow the user to see article of merchandise 106.Alternatively, cover member 108 can have graphics disposed directlythereon or contain an insert (not shown) with graphics or other indicia.During use, the user can receive the flying disc and remove article ofmerchandise 120. If cover member 108 is used, the cover member isremoved first and optionally replaced after removing the article ofmerchandise.

An alternate embodiment of a flying disc is shown in FIG. 4. Flying disc200 is generally cylindrical and has recess 202 formed therein. Articleof merchandise 220 is removably secured to flying disc 200 by means ofcover member 208.

FIGS. 5A and 5B show another flying disc embodiment, 300. Flying disc300 has rectangular orifice 310 and upper and lower lips of material 302and 304 that are continuous about orifice 310. Orifice 310 can be of anyconfiguration (e.g. rectangular, hexagonal, circular, etc. . . . ). Lips302 and 304 can be intermittent or otherwise discontinuous and arepreferably made of the same material as flying disc 300. An article ofmerchandise (not shown) can be removeably secured within orifice 310 andbetween lips 302 and 304, wherein the user can see both top and thebottom portions of the article prior to removal. Orifice 310 can vary inthickness (e.g. from about 0.25 inches to about 3 inches), length (e.g.from about 0.25 inches to about 19 inches) and width (e.g. from about0.25 inches to about 19 inches). By way of example, if the article ofmerchandise is a compact disc in a rectangular jewel box, the dimensionsof orifice 310 would be about 5.6 inches by 4.9 inches by 0.4 inches(the general outer dimensions of a typical jewel box) and the lipportions, where present, would be between about 0.01 inches to about 0.5inches in thickness and have between about 0.01 inches to about 0.5inches of overhang. The overhang and thickness of the lip materialdepends on how tightly the article of merchandise needs to be held andon the type of material used to manufacture the flying disc. Lipportions can also be used in flying object embodiments having a recess,wherein the lip portions serve to removably secure the article ofmerchandise and/or cover member within the recess.

FIGS. 6A and 6B show another flying disc embodiment, 400. Flying disc400 has orifice 410 and four corner portions 401, each having upper andlower lip portions 402 and 404. This particular configuration allowsbetter visualization of an article of merchandise (not shown) ascompared to the particular embodiment shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B.

FIG. 7 shows disc 500 having a central orifice (similar to orifice 410in FIGS. 6A and 6B) configured and dimension to removably secure articleof merchandise 520 (shown as rectangular compact disc jewel box 520) andgroove 540 configured and dimensioned to removably secure article ofmerchandise 530. Article of merchandise 530 can be a novelty item, suchas a necklace. In one embodiment, article of merchandise can be achemiluminescent glow necklace (plastic tubing enclosing two chemicalsthat emit light when mixed). A typical, commercially available glownecklace is about 22 inches in length and between about 4 to about 6millimeters in diameter. Groove 540 can be disposed on the rim of disc500, on the upper surface of disc 500 and/or on the lower surface ofdisc 500. Multiple grooves and/or orifices can be provided to receive aplurality of novelty items on a single flying object.

FIG. 8 shows spherical ball 600 having recess/orifice 610 disposedtherein. Recess 610 can be circular (as shown) or any otherconfiguration to removably secure an article of merchandise.

Optionally, the flying object can have indicia and/or graphics printedor otherwise disposed thereon that correspond to indicia, graphicsand/or the nature of the article of merchandise removably securedthereto. For example, a particular band's name, logo or other artworkcan be on a flying disc in combination with a sample of the band's musicremovably secured to the disc. In another example, a trademark, logo orartwork associated with a particular manufacturer or retailer can bedisposed on the flying object with a gift card from such manufacturer orretailer removably secured to the object.

While the above illustrative embodiments of the present invention havebeen described herein with respect to the accompanying drawings, it isto be understood that the invention is not limited to those preciseembodiments, and that various other changes and modifications may beaffected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from thescope or spirit of the invention. For example, while the majority of theabove discussion relates to flying discs, clearly, other objects can beused to deliver articles of merchandise, such as, for example, balls,footballs and boomerangs, wherein the merchandise is removably securedon an outer surface of the object or is disposed within a recess ororifice formed in the object.

1. A merchandise delivery system comprising: a flying disc having anupper surface and a lower surface; and a generally rectangular gift cardhaving an upper surface and a lower surface, the gift card havinginformation associated therewith, the information comprising magneticinformation, bar-code information or a combination of magnetic andbar-code information; wherein the lower surface of the generallyrectangular gift card is removably secured to the upper surface of theflying disc.
 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the gift cardis removably secured to the flying disc by a viscoelastic polymer. 3.The system according to claim 1, wherein the flying disc and the giftcard each have indicia that are related to each other.
 4. A merchandisedelivery device comprising a flying disc having an upper surface and alower surface and a pre-formed recess configured and dimensioned toremovably receive an article of merchandise, the pre-formed recess beingformed in the flying disc upper surface with a corresponding step formedin the flying disc lower surface, thereby providing a continuous web ofmaterial across the flying disc.
 5. The merchandise delivery device ofclaim 4, further comprising a cover member removably associated with thepre-formed recess.
 6. The merchandise delivery device of claim 4,further comprising an article of merchandise removably secured at leastpartially within the pre-formed recess.
 7. The merchandise deliverydevice of claim 4, wherein the pre-formed recess is generallyrectangular in configuration.
 8. The merchandise delivery device ofclaim 7, further comprising a compact disc jewel box removably securedat least partially within the pre-formed, generally rectangular recess.9. The merchandise delivery device of claim 4, further comprising one ormore lip portions disposed about the pre-formed recess.
 10. Themerchandise delivery device of claim 9, wherein the pre-formed recess isgenerally rectangular in configuration.
 11. The merchandise deliverydevice of claim 10, wherein lip portions are disposed in each corner ofthe generally rectangular pre-formed recess.
 12. The merchandisedelivery device of claim 9, wherein the one or more lip portions aremade of the same material as the flying disc.